Battle of Algeciras Bay

The Battle of Algeciras Bay (6 July 1801) was a decisive naval battle of the French Revolutionary Wars' War of the Second Coalition, in which the French Navy defeated the Royal Navy and pushed them out of the Mediterranean. Admiral Charles Leon Durand and Pierre Moncousu's French fleet of 3 ships was able to defeat Admiral James Saumarez and Solomon Ferris' fleet of 5 ships, destroying 3 of them and capturing the other 2.

Background
At the outset of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, the French Republic faced the three greatest naval powers of Europe: Great Britain, the Spanish Empire, and the United Provinces. The Dutch and Spanish were defeated by 1795 and became allies of the French, so Britain was forced to fight two more naval powers. In 1801, they blockaded the Spanish port of Cadiz and cut off all naval flow to the city, so the 14 Spanish gunboats in the port were besieged by 5 British warships under Admirals James Saumarez and Solomon Ferris. The French admiral Charles Leon Durand and Pierre Moncousu arrived with 3 ships and planned to assist their Spanish allies in defeating the British Royal Navy and forcing them out of the Mediterranean from their anchors off Gibraltar at Algeciras Bay.

Battle
At first, only Durand's 80-gun ship-of-the-line Formidable and the British flagship HMS Hannibal and her sister ship HMS Pompee were engaged. Formidable succeeded in destroying Pompee using round shot volleys and outmaneuvering the British ship, and Durand engaged Ferris' flagship Hannibal after it moved towards the French ship, ready to fight. Hannibal was demasted by volleys of cannonballs, and Durand hooked up the British ship and boarded it. It was forced to surrender after a short fight, and the first stage of the battle left the French as the victors.

However, British and French reinforcements arrived to prolong the encounter. Pierre Moncousu and two French ships arrived to reinforce Durand's lone flagship, while Saumarez's flagship HMS Caesar and escort ships HMS Venerable and HMS Spencer arrived to join the fight. Moncousu's French fleet failed to join Durand's lone ship in time, and Formidable engaged HMS Caesar in a one-on-one duel. Formidable eventually caught fire and exploded while boarding Caesar, killing both admirals. Soon after, Caesar (which had surrendered) also exploded after catching fire from Formidable.

With the British flagship gone, the stronger French vessels moved in. HMS Venerable was blown up by the French flagship Indomptable, and the 32-gun 5th Rate HMS Spencer was forced to surrender after being pounded as it routed. With all 5 British ships destroyed and 1 French ship lost, the battle was a French victory.